June 26, 2009
EUGENE, OREGON - Texas A&M's Jessica Beard advanced to the final of the 400 meters of the USA Championships with a third-place effort in Friday's semifinal at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.
Incoming Aggie frosh Wayne Davis of Raleigh, North Carolina, won in the finals of the USA Junior 110 hurdles with an incredible time of 13.16 seconds.
Meanwhile, Aggie volunteer assistant coach Muna Lee placed second in the final of the 100 meters, clocking 10.78 to match the winning time of winner Carmelita Jeter. The difference between the two was just 0.001 of a second (10.776 to 10.777). The race was wind-aided with a 3.3 reading.
Lee and Jeter will make up the women's 100 team for the United States in the World Championships held in Berlin, Germany, later this summer. Joining them in the third position was Lauryn Williams (10.96), who finished ahead of NCAA champion Alexandria Anderson (11.00) of Texas.
Beard will race in the final of the 400 meters on Saturday at 7:54 p.m. (CT). Coverage of the meet will be shown live on ESPN from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The top three finishers will comprise the US team in the 400 at the World Championships while the top six finishers will likely make up the relay pool for the 4 x 400 relay.
Running in the same semifinal heat as current world leader Sanya Richards and NCAA champion Joanna Atkins of Auburn, Beard led the field of eight to the halfway point.
Atkins, who had a fast start in the NCAA final running from an outside lane, was one lane ahead of Beard on the Hayward Field track as they occupied lanes 6 and 7. Beard closed the gap to Atkins on the backstretch, and then passed her prior to the 200m mark. Holding the lead through the curve, Beard was soon joined by Richards and Debbie Dunn as the trio reached the homestretch.
Richards went on to win the heat in 50.96 with Dunn runner-up at 51.39. Beard finished in third at 51.88 while Dominique Darden clamed fourth in 52.27, securing the final spot in the final. Big 12 foe Leslie Cole of OU placed fifth in 52.76 while Atkins faded to seventh in 53.12.
Davis has qualified to be part of the United States team that competes at the Pan Am Junior Championships in Trinidad & Tobago at the end of July. On his most recent international journey, Davis claimed gold in the 110 hurdles at the 2007 World Youth Championships held in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
"I was hoping to go in the 13.0s, but this is great," Davis said. "I'm not complaining. I'm just ready to go down to Trinidad now."
The 13.16 mark by Davis, wind-aided with a 3.8 reading and run over 39 inch hurdles instead of the collegiate 42 inches, makes him the second fastest prep all-time under any conditions. Davis' time only trails a windy 13.15 by Brendan Ames set in 2007.
Finishing behind Davis was Booker Nunley of South Carolina in 13.36 while Michael Hancock of Colorado Flyers placed third in 13.38. Nunley earned a silver medal last summer at the World Junior Championships in Poland.
Earlier in the afternoon Davis clocked a personal best of 13.31 in the prelims of the 110 hurdles, becoming the No. 4 performer on the all-time high school list. His time, run with a legal wind reading of 2.0, broke the meet record of 13.40 set by Nunley last year.
Nunley, also a North Carolina prep product, was second to Florida's William Wynne in the first heat as they posted windy times of 13.23 and 13.30, respectively.